Quote:
Originally Posted by David Dunlop
Hello Marty.
That is a very interesting find.
Based on the distinctive variations in the vein pattern in the maple leaf and the flow of the lettering, I would say a second engraver was definitely involved in the production of these dash jewels for General Motors. The mystery is whether or not these two engravers worked for the same company, BMCo, or were two different companies involved in the production
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What is interesting to me is that the odd one out is the only one that I have with the BMCo markings on the back. I assume that the one pictured in your first post also has these markings? If so, that would make it different from mine.
Do you have a photo of the markings on the one you have?
Quote:
Originally Posted by David Dunlop
Do you know the vehicle history behind your three pins by any chance? if we could assemble enough data from these items surviving on the actual equipment they were installed on, we could build a better image of their production evolution.
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Sadly, I don't have any other info. All three were found in the UK and came from collectors of enamel pins and badges, or were inherited by the seller. So no luck there
Quote:
Originally Posted by David Dunlop
One possible line of events could be that BMCo got a small contract from General Motors for a limited run of pins and did not bother stamping them with their ID, so early pins would be unmarked. That contract may have suddenly grown and they added their ID to be consistent with all their other wartime badge and button production, along with other larger contracts by the way. They then found themselves unable to meet the demand for this item and a second manufacturer was brought in to assist.
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That would mean that the one with the extra vein would be a later version. As stated earlier, the other two don't have the markings. Would be interesting to know if the one with the extra vein is also original to CMPs, or if it could be post-war. it is the best preserved of the three, but that does not really tell anything.
I cleaned and polished them a bit more to bring out the shine. They really are beautifull!
(the background of the one with the chipped enamel is not a shiny as it looks in the photo. That one is also missing some of the enamel in upper part of the maple leaf)
Repro badges
For the sake of completion, here are the two best images I could find of the two repro badges I know of. To my knowledge, the left one came from LWD Parts, while the right one came from Brian Asbury. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Any other info on these, or other repro badges would be very much appreciated!